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On the lighter side, an interesting photo shared via Twitter by a Brit sig in Suffield ....
British Military Current Events
- Thread starter daftandbarmy
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daftandbarmy
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Surge of soldiers wanting to quit prompts morale concerns
The latest round of Army redundancies was 40 per cent oversubscribed by volunteers wanting to quit, an official breakdown shows, prompting concerns of falling morale.
The Army announced 4,450 redundancies in June as part of ongoing cuts to the Armed Forces from the Government’s cost-cutting defence reviews.
A breakdown of the job losses shows that 6,210 soldiers had wanted to leave and applied for a redundancy package.
The demand to leave was higher in officers where the Army made 240 redundant, but had 380 applicants step forward to quit.
Military sources said the number of applicants had surprised commanders and was far higher than earlier rounds in 2011 and 2012, where there were more job cuts than volunteers.
The prospect of a dwindling Army conducting fewer operations with less equipment has hit morale and made many reconsider their uncertain futures, according to military insiders.
Army chiefs are particularly concerned they are losing a generation of officers who have gained invaluable experience from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.
One senior Army source said: “It’s the worst I have seen it and we are losing some real high flyers who could have great careers in front of them.
“These are not old duffers, we are talking about highly experienced middle-ranking officers who have spent the last 12 years in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Col Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said many soldiers now viewed the Army as a “declining industry”.
He said: “People who had hoped to serve out full careers and have the expected career path and progression are seeing it shattered as the Army is cut to pieces.
“A lot of people are seeing their friends made redundant and that causes a lot of discontent. There’s a lot of concern about people losing allowances and how that will hit their standards of living.”
He said it would be “incredibly difficult” to replace the hard-won experience held by many of those leaving.
He said: “You can’t train it overnight, it takes a great deal of time and hard work to get to that stage. I think in the long term, we are going to see the Army suffer for this.”
The Army is being slimmed down from 100,000 to 82,000 by 2020 as part of the Government’s defence cuts.
Gen Sir Peter Wall, Chief of the General Staff, acknowledged earlier this year that as the cuts bit, they were creating gaps and leaving soldiers unsettled and frustrated.
Catherine Spencer, chief executive of the Army Families' Federation said there could be concerns about morale, but said the redundancy offer had also been open to large numbers of soldiers.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said a huge number of soldiers had chosen to stay, "so it is not a reflection on morale in the Army".
He said: "The last set of redundancies were the largest to date so it is only natural that we would expect more soldiers to have applied for this tranche.
"We have worked hard to make sure that soldiers selected for redundancy receive a generous redundancy package and it is not surprising that a number of soldiers, having served their country with distinction for a number of years, were looking for a fresh challenge."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10274897/Surge-of-soldiers-wanting-to-quit-prompts-morale-concerns.html
The latest round of Army redundancies was 40 per cent oversubscribed by volunteers wanting to quit, an official breakdown shows, prompting concerns of falling morale.
The Army announced 4,450 redundancies in June as part of ongoing cuts to the Armed Forces from the Government’s cost-cutting defence reviews.
A breakdown of the job losses shows that 6,210 soldiers had wanted to leave and applied for a redundancy package.
The demand to leave was higher in officers where the Army made 240 redundant, but had 380 applicants step forward to quit.
Military sources said the number of applicants had surprised commanders and was far higher than earlier rounds in 2011 and 2012, where there were more job cuts than volunteers.
The prospect of a dwindling Army conducting fewer operations with less equipment has hit morale and made many reconsider their uncertain futures, according to military insiders.
Army chiefs are particularly concerned they are losing a generation of officers who have gained invaluable experience from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.
One senior Army source said: “It’s the worst I have seen it and we are losing some real high flyers who could have great careers in front of them.
“These are not old duffers, we are talking about highly experienced middle-ranking officers who have spent the last 12 years in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Col Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said many soldiers now viewed the Army as a “declining industry”.
He said: “People who had hoped to serve out full careers and have the expected career path and progression are seeing it shattered as the Army is cut to pieces.
“A lot of people are seeing their friends made redundant and that causes a lot of discontent. There’s a lot of concern about people losing allowances and how that will hit their standards of living.”
He said it would be “incredibly difficult” to replace the hard-won experience held by many of those leaving.
He said: “You can’t train it overnight, it takes a great deal of time and hard work to get to that stage. I think in the long term, we are going to see the Army suffer for this.”
The Army is being slimmed down from 100,000 to 82,000 by 2020 as part of the Government’s defence cuts.
Gen Sir Peter Wall, Chief of the General Staff, acknowledged earlier this year that as the cuts bit, they were creating gaps and leaving soldiers unsettled and frustrated.
Catherine Spencer, chief executive of the Army Families' Federation said there could be concerns about morale, but said the redundancy offer had also been open to large numbers of soldiers.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said a huge number of soldiers had chosen to stay, "so it is not a reflection on morale in the Army".
He said: "The last set of redundancies were the largest to date so it is only natural that we would expect more soldiers to have applied for this tranche.
"We have worked hard to make sure that soldiers selected for redundancy receive a generous redundancy package and it is not surprising that a number of soldiers, having served their country with distinction for a number of years, were looking for a fresh challenge."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10274897/Surge-of-soldiers-wanting-to-quit-prompts-morale-concerns.html
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Somehow, I suspected someone was going to use this Paul Revere reference sooner or later... :
daftandbarmy
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Claims British troops abused bodies of dead Iraqis are baseless says colonel
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10280872/Claims-British-troops-abused-bodies-of-dead-Iraqis-are-baseless-says-colonel.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10280872/Claims-British-troops-abused-bodies-of-dead-Iraqis-are-baseless-says-colonel.html
daftandbarmy
Army.ca Dinosaur
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Sir, I was surprised that you gave so much space to Tony Blair's views on Syria (Aug 27). It is like having an arsonist advise on how to put out a fire he lit. The invasion of Iraq, initiated by Bush and supported so zealously by Blair, triggered the unravelling of the status quo in the Middle East, resulting in so much misery and death. The West's false promises to the Afghans in 2001 and the twisted facts that were used to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003 created much of the intense anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim world that caused the Arab Spring. Since then, Islamic extremists have exploited the instability to hijack the democratic agenda.
Instead of repeating the same sanctimonious rubbish, Blair should reverse his argument and wring his own hands. Certainly, he should tell the long-suffering people of the Middle East just how he is going to atone for his actions. Winston Churchill, after the disaster of Gallipoli in 1915, volunteered for duty in the trenches where he sought to redeem his honour through death or sacrifice and service to his country.
General Sir Michael Rose.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/letters/article3854466.ece
Instead of repeating the same sanctimonious rubbish, Blair should reverse his argument and wring his own hands. Certainly, he should tell the long-suffering people of the Middle East just how he is going to atone for his actions. Winston Churchill, after the disaster of Gallipoli in 1915, volunteered for duty in the trenches where he sought to redeem his honour through death or sacrifice and service to his country.
General Sir Michael Rose.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/letters/article3854466.ece
daftandbarmy
Army.ca Dinosaur
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Go 1 PARA!
Elite forces in secret raids against Taliban bomb-makers
An elite unit of paratroopers and Royal Marines has been carrying out secret raids on Taliban fighters and supply lines months after ministers and generals announced that British troops had stopped offensive operations in Afghanistan.
An officer of the unit, known as the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG), disclosed details of the raids in an Army magazine, commenting that close-up killing is "exactly what we all joined up to do".
The disclosures in Pegasus, the journal of the Parachute Regiment, come two weeks after reports emerged that 80 British troops had been sent on a secret mission to help Afghan troops to clear Taliban fighters from Sangin. According to the article, understood to have been written by a senior officer in the unit, the unit's A Company arrived in Afghanistan in January for a six-month tour and went on to mount relentless raids against the Taliban.
Its strike operations have continued unabated despite ministers and senior commanders declaring an effective end to British combat operations in Helmand earlier this year.
Brig Bob Bruce, who was commander of British forces in Helmand, said in March: "We have reduced our profile to such an extent that we don't do ground combat-type operations any more."
Ministers, who are keen for British forces to leave Afghanistan after years of heavy costs and casualties, have stressed that Afghans are now in the lead and British troops are only advising them.
The British strike force, which is believed to be up to 150 strong, works hand-in-hand with an elite unit of Afghan commandos, known as Task Force 444, throughout Helmand province.
Photographs with the article, the first ever to detail the highly secretive unit's work, show the armed British troops boarding US Marine Corps V-22 Osprey aircraft and giant CH-53 helicopters.
The involvement of so many British troops will raise questions over the degree to which Afghan forces are able to stand on their own against the Taliban. Ministers and military chiefs are currently deciding whether British forces will be needed after Nato combat troops leave by the end of next year.
Ministry of Defence sources confirmed that the SFSG and Afghan strike forces led a series of raids on suspected Taliban bomb-makers in May after three British soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb at the end of April. The raids still take place two or three times a week.
"Paratroopers and Marines of A Company continue to work independently with Afghan [commandos] throughout Helmand, delivering outstanding effect above their pay grade," wrote the officer. "A truly impressive effort that leaves the units they work with shocked that they are 'just' privates and marines."
The unit has targeted insurgent supply lines in the desert near the border with Pakistan, and Taliban bases in the centre of the province. The author commented: "Killing the enemy in the close battle is exactly what we joined up to do."
The force has taken several casualties. "The Afghanistan burden is heavy," wrote the officer. "Our Afghan partners have suffered [soldiers] killed in action and significant injuries in the last 24 months.
"[Our] battalion has also shared life-changing injuries in the last 12 [months]. Our thoughts are with all the individuals who have suffered injuries."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10251377/Elite-forces-in-secret-raids-against-Taliban-bomb-makers.html
Elite forces in secret raids against Taliban bomb-makers
An elite unit of paratroopers and Royal Marines has been carrying out secret raids on Taliban fighters and supply lines months after ministers and generals announced that British troops had stopped offensive operations in Afghanistan.
An officer of the unit, known as the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG), disclosed details of the raids in an Army magazine, commenting that close-up killing is "exactly what we all joined up to do".
The disclosures in Pegasus, the journal of the Parachute Regiment, come two weeks after reports emerged that 80 British troops had been sent on a secret mission to help Afghan troops to clear Taliban fighters from Sangin. According to the article, understood to have been written by a senior officer in the unit, the unit's A Company arrived in Afghanistan in January for a six-month tour and went on to mount relentless raids against the Taliban.
Its strike operations have continued unabated despite ministers and senior commanders declaring an effective end to British combat operations in Helmand earlier this year.
Brig Bob Bruce, who was commander of British forces in Helmand, said in March: "We have reduced our profile to such an extent that we don't do ground combat-type operations any more."
Ministers, who are keen for British forces to leave Afghanistan after years of heavy costs and casualties, have stressed that Afghans are now in the lead and British troops are only advising them.
The British strike force, which is believed to be up to 150 strong, works hand-in-hand with an elite unit of Afghan commandos, known as Task Force 444, throughout Helmand province.
Photographs with the article, the first ever to detail the highly secretive unit's work, show the armed British troops boarding US Marine Corps V-22 Osprey aircraft and giant CH-53 helicopters.
The involvement of so many British troops will raise questions over the degree to which Afghan forces are able to stand on their own against the Taliban. Ministers and military chiefs are currently deciding whether British forces will be needed after Nato combat troops leave by the end of next year.
Ministry of Defence sources confirmed that the SFSG and Afghan strike forces led a series of raids on suspected Taliban bomb-makers in May after three British soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb at the end of April. The raids still take place two or three times a week.
"Paratroopers and Marines of A Company continue to work independently with Afghan [commandos] throughout Helmand, delivering outstanding effect above their pay grade," wrote the officer. "A truly impressive effort that leaves the units they work with shocked that they are 'just' privates and marines."
The unit has targeted insurgent supply lines in the desert near the border with Pakistan, and Taliban bases in the centre of the province. The author commented: "Killing the enemy in the close battle is exactly what we joined up to do."
The force has taken several casualties. "The Afghanistan burden is heavy," wrote the officer. "Our Afghan partners have suffered [soldiers] killed in action and significant injuries in the last 24 months.
"[Our] battalion has also shared life-changing injuries in the last 12 [months]. Our thoughts are with all the individuals who have suffered injuries."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10251377/Elite-forces-in-secret-raids-against-Taliban-bomb-makers.html
How the MoD 'lost' £1.5billion of your money in just two years by giving away property to the Germans, paying too much tax and buying the wrong ammo
Ministry of Defence could not account for £33.6million allocated for military purposes
MAIL ON SUNDAY reveals vast sums written off as 'unsupported balances'
Wastage at time when defence services axed to 'save money'
Costs include hand-back of German barracks at £1.5billion and recovery of one submarine that ran aground at £1.6million
By Mark Nicol Defence Correspondent 7 September 2013
Article Link
Buying the wrong bombs, mislaying anti-aircraft missile systems and gifting Germany a property portfolio have led the Ministry of Defence to rack up losses of £1.58 billion in the past two years, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Previously unseen accounts for 2012-13 show that the MoD has written off huge sums of taxpayers’ money after an array of stores losses, accounting errors and what are categorised in the department’s figures as ‘fruitless payments’.
The wastage came at a time when the Government was insisting that it needed to sack thousands of Service personnel to balance the books.
Figures obtained by this newspaper reveal that in the last financial year the MoD’s bookkeepers were apparently incapable of accounting for £33.6 million in funds allocated for military purposes.
A note in the accounts describes a lack of information over the whereabouts of the money – leading to the ‘write-off of unsupported balances’.
Documents also show that while the MoD was axeing historic regiments and withdrawing iconic ships and aircraft from service, it was simultaneously giving to Uzbekistan a fleet of 50 Leyland DAF four-ton trucks worth £450,000, and counter-terrorism training equipment to Pakistan worth £294,000.
According to the accounts, the biggest giveaway of all in 2012-13 was handing back the barracks and buildings in Germany which had been in British possession. The documents state that this cost the MoD £1.5 billion in impairment charges.
The figures also reveal that hundreds of troops benefited from a clerical error in the wages department. They were overpaid about £640,000 and there are no plans to recover the excess payments.
Similarly the MoD has written off £527,000 for missing anti-aircraft missile parts, £743,000 after the disappearance of lightweight field generators, £390,000 for lost kit in Canada and £277,000 for purchasing bombs which no longer suited their training requirements.
Among the so-called ‘fruitless payments’ is £1.6 million for towing HMS Astute after the submarine ran aground off the Isle of Skye, and £393,000 paid to landowners and catering contractors following the late cancellation of military exercises.
More on link
Ministry of Defence could not account for £33.6million allocated for military purposes
MAIL ON SUNDAY reveals vast sums written off as 'unsupported balances'
Wastage at time when defence services axed to 'save money'
Costs include hand-back of German barracks at £1.5billion and recovery of one submarine that ran aground at £1.6million
By Mark Nicol Defence Correspondent 7 September 2013
Article Link
Buying the wrong bombs, mislaying anti-aircraft missile systems and gifting Germany a property portfolio have led the Ministry of Defence to rack up losses of £1.58 billion in the past two years, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Previously unseen accounts for 2012-13 show that the MoD has written off huge sums of taxpayers’ money after an array of stores losses, accounting errors and what are categorised in the department’s figures as ‘fruitless payments’.
The wastage came at a time when the Government was insisting that it needed to sack thousands of Service personnel to balance the books.
Figures obtained by this newspaper reveal that in the last financial year the MoD’s bookkeepers were apparently incapable of accounting for £33.6 million in funds allocated for military purposes.
A note in the accounts describes a lack of information over the whereabouts of the money – leading to the ‘write-off of unsupported balances’.
Documents also show that while the MoD was axeing historic regiments and withdrawing iconic ships and aircraft from service, it was simultaneously giving to Uzbekistan a fleet of 50 Leyland DAF four-ton trucks worth £450,000, and counter-terrorism training equipment to Pakistan worth £294,000.
According to the accounts, the biggest giveaway of all in 2012-13 was handing back the barracks and buildings in Germany which had been in British possession. The documents state that this cost the MoD £1.5 billion in impairment charges.
The figures also reveal that hundreds of troops benefited from a clerical error in the wages department. They were overpaid about £640,000 and there are no plans to recover the excess payments.
Similarly the MoD has written off £527,000 for missing anti-aircraft missile parts, £743,000 after the disappearance of lightweight field generators, £390,000 for lost kit in Canada and £277,000 for purchasing bombs which no longer suited their training requirements.
Among the so-called ‘fruitless payments’ is £1.6 million for towing HMS Astute after the submarine ran aground off the Isle of Skye, and £393,000 paid to landowners and catering contractors following the late cancellation of military exercises.
More on link
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Breaking: Syrian Su24 fighter-bombers probe the air defences at RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus, prompting RAF Typhoons to scramble.
Details at the Syria superthread of army.ca
Details at the Syria superthread of army.ca
daftandbarmy
Army.ca Dinosaur
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And here's another kind of British 'probing' that won't turn out so well either:
Tortured: Young Army recruit tells how he went AWOL after becoming a victim of brutal bullying
Distressing image exposes culture of bullying inside decorated regiment
A TEENAGE soldier is pinned to a bed with his trousers pulled down – as comrades torture him for refusing to go out drinking.
These distressing images – printed with the permission of the victim – today expose an alleged culture of brutal bullying inside one of Britain’s most decorated regiments.
Taken at the German headquarters of the famous Rifles infantry division, they show the recruit – fresh out of basic training – being stripped half naked, tied up and subjected to humiliating physical abuse by soldiers in the same unit.
His hands and feet are bound together with tape as four soldiers pin him to the floor.
In one image, an attacker is shown targeting his genitals. In another, he is held face-down as he desperately tries to protect his bare backside with his bound hands.
The victim, 18, whose identity we are protecting, has returned to the UK after going absent without leave and faces time in a military jail.
He said of the abuse he has suffered: “You learn to take it. If you complain, it just gets worse, so you keep your mouth shut.”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tortured-young-army-recruit-tells-2259512#ixzz2eLrRNQ4Y
Tortured: Young Army recruit tells how he went AWOL after becoming a victim of brutal bullying
Distressing image exposes culture of bullying inside decorated regiment
A TEENAGE soldier is pinned to a bed with his trousers pulled down – as comrades torture him for refusing to go out drinking.
These distressing images – printed with the permission of the victim – today expose an alleged culture of brutal bullying inside one of Britain’s most decorated regiments.
Taken at the German headquarters of the famous Rifles infantry division, they show the recruit – fresh out of basic training – being stripped half naked, tied up and subjected to humiliating physical abuse by soldiers in the same unit.
His hands and feet are bound together with tape as four soldiers pin him to the floor.
In one image, an attacker is shown targeting his genitals. In another, he is held face-down as he desperately tries to protect his bare backside with his bound hands.
The victim, 18, whose identity we are protecting, has returned to the UK after going absent without leave and faces time in a military jail.
He said of the abuse he has suffered: “You learn to take it. If you complain, it just gets worse, so you keep your mouth shut.”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tortured-young-army-recruit-tells-2259512#ixzz2eLrRNQ4Y
OldSolduer
Army.ca Relic
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daftandbarmy said:
We've seen similar things here.....
daftandbarmy
Army.ca Dinosaur
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Kenya and the Paras are deffo NOT getting along. Time to tool up and sort this lot out sharpish:
Retired British Army colonel shot dead in Kenya
A decorated British war hero, who commanded a unit of paratroopers on Bloody Sunday, has been shot and killed in front of his family whilst visiting his son in Kenya.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/kenya/10294438/Retired-British-Army-colonel-shot-dead-in-Kenya.html
Retired British Army colonel shot dead in Kenya
A decorated British war hero, who commanded a unit of paratroopers on Bloody Sunday, has been shot and killed in front of his family whilst visiting his son in Kenya.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/kenya/10294438/Retired-British-Army-colonel-shot-dead-in-Kenya.html
daftandbarmy
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Transforming the British Army 2013 - Update
http://www.army.mod.uk/documents/general/Army2020_Report.pdf
http://www.army.mod.uk/documents/general/Army2020_Report.pdf
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OldSolduer
Army.ca Relic
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I would like to wish Prince William a Bravo Zulu. Well done lad!
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A backbench revolt appears to be brewing according to this article which is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from The Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10310013/John-Baron-defence-cuts-army-regulars-reserve.html
See this for a look at what the Tory backbenchers find so objectionable.
I sympathize with their discontent but I cannot see a "better"place to cut than defence ~ almost everything else, everything big enough to matter, anyway, is either a) critical to economic recovery, or b) politically untouchable.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10310013/John-Baron-defence-cuts-army-regulars-reserve.html
Tory MPs revolt over Army cuts
Ministers are facing a revolt by Conservative MPs over plans to cut the size of the regular Army by 20,000 while boosting the numbers of part-time soldiers.
By Patrick Hennessy, Political editor
14 Sep 2013
Some 25 backbenchers have written to Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, asking him to halt the proposals to disband regular infantry battalions.
The rebels tell the Coalition that it needs to make a choice on its financial priorities —“ensuring the defence of the realm or funding white elephants such as HS2 [the rail line]”.
However, in a sign of the political heat surrounding the cutbacks, a source close to Mr Hammond accused critics of “sniping from the sidelines” and “talking down” the abilities of Britain’s reservists.
Mr Hammond revealed last year that he wanted to double the size of the Territorial Army from 15,000 to 30,000 to plug the gap opened up by moves to cut the strength of the regular Army from 102,000 to 82,000.
Many of the cutbacks have gone through, but at least one more round of redundancies is expected to be announced in the next few months.
However, in a serious blow for the Defence Secretary, the backbenchers warn that the proposals will not deliver the expected cost savings.
They say the plans are “clearly born of financial necessity and not strategic design” and are “high-risk in this increasingly uncertain world”.
The group, led by John Baron, the Tory MP for Basildon and Billericay and a former Army captain, says Mr Hammond’s move will lead to a “capability gap” for Britain’s forces, which will lose 20,000 “experienced and battle-hardened regular troops”.
These will be replaced by “untested reservist personnel”, the MPs add.
Mr Baron claims the plans were motivated by cost and not by an awareness of the challenges troops will face in the future.
The Defence Reform Bill, which contains the detailed plans for boosting the numbers of reserve troops, will be voted on in the Commons in the next few months. A substantial revolt could see the Government risking an embarrassing defeat.
Mr Baron, who says his fellow signatories include former ministers, claims there are “reliable reports of the Ministry of Defence’s failure to meet its reserve recruitment targets”, despite a recruitment drive including television advertisements with the aim of hitting 30,000 by 2018. The MPs say in their letter that serving ministers have failed to give them “comprehensive answers” and have called for full details of planned cost savings.
Critics of the plan to boost reserve numbers have also claimed they are flawed as many employers — in particular those running smaller firms — will not want to lose staff for several months while they are deployed overseas.
The MPs are calling for the regular Army cutbacks to be halted “at the very least ... until we are sure that the Army Reserve plans will work”.
They add: “We suggest that the Government’s reservist plans are already having a distorting effect on the ground. Well-recruited battalions are being disbanded whilst more poorly recruited, and therefore expensive, battalions are being preserved. Such a policy simply reinforces failure.”
Ministers have admitted the plans to increase the Territorial Army are a “challenge” and say they have found an extra £1.8 billion to boost training, support and equipment in the reserves over the next decade.
An MoD source said last night: “The restructuring of the Army is well under way to make sure we tailor our forces to the budget available following the financial mess Labour left.
“Instead of the larger, ill-equipped forces of the past we are creating smaller but better-equipped forces for the future.
“Instead of sniping from the sidelines about decisions taken nearly three years ago, people with vested interests need to get behind our reserves rather than talking them down.”
Other signatories to the letter include James Clappison (Hertsmere), Jack Lopresti (Filton & Bradley Stoke), Philip Hollobone (Kettering), Richard Drax (South Dorset), Philip Davies (Shipley) and Julian Lewis (New Forest East). Mr Clappison said: “I am a traditional Conservative who believes that defence should be our highest priority. We cannot take any risks with it.”
The Government embarked on a round of cutbacks following the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), which provided for an eight per cent spending reduction for the MoD over four years. David Cameron admitted then that it would be a “step change in the way we protect this country’s security interests”.
As well as the reductions in personnel, HMS Ark Royal, the aircraft carrier, was decommissioned four years early, while the RAF’s Harrier jump jets were axed, and planned Nimrod reconnaissance planes were cancelled.
There were reductions in the number of tanks and heavy artillery, while the total number of frigates and destroyers was planned to drop from 23 to 19 by 2020.
The next SDSR is slated for 2015 and the Prime Minister has warned there may have to be further defence cuts after that. Mr Baron says in an online commentary for telegraph.co.uk: “Plans to replace 20,000 regular troops with 30,000 reservists will prove a cut too far.
“It will not produce the cost savings envisaged, but will create unacceptable capability gaps which may yet cost us dear. Our future forces will need to be even more professional and flexible – shortcuts will be a high-risk strategy. It is quite clear the Government’s proposals are decisions borne of financial necessity and not strategic design. Once again, it comes down to financial priorities, but here the stakes could not be higher — funding white elephants, such as HS2, or ensuring the defence of the realm.”
An MoD spokesman said: “Tough decisions had to be taken to tackle the multi-billion-pound deficit left behind in defence by the previous government. We are reshaping our Armed Forces to ensure they are properly equipped and more adaptable to future challenges and threats.
“To bring us better into line with our closest allies, who make much more use of reserve forces, we are investing £1.8 billion in more modern equipment, increased training and incentives, as we build a fully integrated Army with regulars and reserves training and operating alongside each other.
“The Army is confident of its ability to increase the Army Reserve from a trained strength of 19,000 to 30,000.”
See this for a look at what the Tory backbenchers find so objectionable.
I sympathize with their discontent but I cannot see a "better"place to cut than defence ~ almost everything else, everything big enough to matter, anyway, is either a) critical to economic recovery, or b) politically untouchable.
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Kirkhill said:
I agree cutting defence is easy but, as I have said many times: except in extremis, defence spending is counter-productive, for pretty much everyone except the USA and, maybe, China ~ not just unproductive, it is, really, counterproductive, so cutting defence spending is, economically, a "good" thing. And a good choice, compared to several less good ones, is "better," no?
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E.R. Campbell said:
A good choice, compared to several less good ones is indeed better.
I don't know that I accept the premise that defence spending is counter-productive for then I would be inclined to think that you are promoting that police, inspectors, governors and quality control organizations are counter-productive. In the broadest sense they are: they hinder productivity. However they are necessary.
Now, as in everything else in life, the key is moderation.
In the absence of a "policed", "regulated" operating environment then you are back to the days of the Honourable East India Company and the VOC with their armed merchantmen and their own Regiments.
De Meuron's comes to mind
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